Movie review: Sagar alias Jacky (Mal, Mar 2009)

Movie review: Sagar alias Jacky (Mal, Mar 2009)

Sagar alias Jacky, the underworld prince and smuggler who made a ruckus in 1988 by shooting down his business partner and son of the then chief minister, for breaking the laws of the underworld, is back after a long 21 years as the king of the underworld.

A realistic adaptation of nexus between politics and underworld in the form of business partnership between the son of the chief minister – Shekaran Kutty and his protégé Sagar, which later turns sour owing to Sekharan’s over ambitious and inhumane attitude. Shekhar inflicts heavy causalities on Sagar, his comrades and family and uses his father’s political clout to escape from the country. However Sagar, the soft spoken but daring smuggler breaks all cordons to kill Shekhar and settles the score. Sagar surrenders to the law of the land and moves out of the scene.

That was Sagar 21 years back. Presently, he is a big player in the prized underworld ground of the middle-east. Sagar has grown very much in the last 21 years and has a wide spread empire of his own. His looks, reach, business, friends, army and what not has changed with time but what remains unchanged is the style and nature of Sagar. A well etched character from S.N.Swamy, once again.

It would be wrong to say that Sagar has changed with time. I think it is more appropriate to say that Sagar has moved with the times. He has imbibed the necessities of the changing times and hyper adapted to those. That justifies and convinces of the growth of Sagar from a local smuggler to one of the big fishes in the international underworld scene. When one becomes a big fish in the international playing ground, the opponents also tend to be bigger and that is exactly what SaJ is all about.

Heroism is built on villainy and the latter is the foundation for the former. Propagation of heroism requires larger than hero villains. When the playing field is similar to the one described above, heroism is guaranteed its mileage. The script writer in S.N. Swamy is successful in that context as he has put the right set of ingredients in appropriate proportion in this dish. Amal Neerad has proved beyond doubt that he is the promise of Indian cinema in the years to come.

The setting of the script and the contexts are well developed and properly adapted. The screenplay is properly sequenced and well scripted. The attitude of Sagar is visible in every scene he is present. It goes without saying that the character of Sagar and Jacky was safe in the shoulder of Mohanlal. The transformation of the eighties Sagar to te twenty first century Sagar has been enacted to perfection by one of the best actor Indian cinema has ever produced. It is very difficult for a great performer like Mohanlal to confine himself to an expression less, stone faced and quiet by nature Sagar and hence it would have been a great challenge for him to enact a new version of Sagar. It goes without saying that the on screen Sagar and Jacky are performance at its best by Mohanlal.

The homework done by the Amal and his team is very evident in the movie. It is visible in each frame in the proceedings. The locations have been charted properly and supplement the mood of the proceedings. Since most of the shots are canned in outdoor locations, I am sure that the art direction department could get some time off. Amal has adopted the RGV style of story telling and film making and has shown justice to the RGV school of cinema.

Amal and team has delivered a product that is very much inline with the taste of the times. The shots are thrilling and cuts are sharp. Another highlight of the movie is the music and background score. Gopi Sundar has done a very good job in terms of his compositions and bg score. The rehashed theme of SaJ is thrilling, exciting and multi faceted. Cinematography by Amal needs and salute as he has used the frames and shots as a character in celluloid. His unconventional shot angles, frame settings and progressions interlaces much with the theme and mood of SaJ.

The mood is thrilling, the proceedings are convincing and hyper paced, the presenters fit the bill to the T, the shots are stylish and racing, excellent bg score, and the visualization is stylish to the core. The conversations are all one liners and each of them has dragger sharp edges. The one liners have been properly and stylishly presented and hence the duplex connect with the audience is successful. The marketing design is commendable. A drift from the conventional mode of Malayalam cinema in movie making, distribution, release and publicity is evident and needs to be appreciated very much.

Special mention needs to be made to S.N. Swamy for etching out the characters and plotting the character maps in a very vibrant way. The screenplay is drafted in a mode that greets the times appropriately and that is why Mr Swamy requires special mention here. Sampath, who enacted the role of the senior Rossario is a revelation and needs a special round of applause.

This film takes you for a ride to a different plane and gives you a wonderful experience for two and half hours. This film is worth every penny that we need to spend for the experience and that proves the success of Sagar alias Jacky. My rating for Saj is *****.


*****Landmark
**** Excellent
*** Worth a watch
** Avoidable
*Disaster